About The Book

UNFORGETTABLE: The Bold Flavors of Paula Wolfert's Renegade Life tells the story of culinary legend and author of nine award-winning cookbooks, Paula Wolfert, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer's in 2013. This culinary biography, written by Emily Kaiser Thelin and photographed by Eric Wolfinger, shares more than fifty of her most iconic dishes and explores the relationship between food and memory. The gripping narrative traces the arc of Wolfert's career, from her Brooklyn childhood to her adventures in the farthest corners of the Mediterranean: from nights spent with Beat Generation icons like Allen Ginsberg, to working with the great James Beard; from living in Morocco at a time when it really was like a fourteenth century culture, to bringing international food to America's kitchens through magazines and cookbooks. from nights spent with Beat Generation icons like Allen Ginsberg, to working with the great James Beard; from living in Morocco at a time when it really was like a fourteenth century culture, to bringing international food to America's kitchens through magazines and cookbooks.

It shares 50+ of her most unforgettable dishes, many of them in line with her new brain-healthy diet. To produce it, we assembled a cookbook publishing dream team, collectively responsible for dozens of award-winning, game-changing books. Together we explored the relationship between food and memory, as we cooked those dishes for her, and discovered what recollections they provoked.

The gripping narrative traces the arc of her career, from her Brooklyn childhood to her adventures in the farthest corners of the Mediterranean. Anecdotes and adventure stories come Paula's extensive personal archive, from over 50 interviews with Paula herself, and from dozens of interviews with food writers and chefs whom she influenced and influenced her—from Alice Waters and Thomas Keller to Diana Kennedy, André Daguin, and Jacques Pépin.

For the recipes, we have culled Wolfert's seminal cookbooks and hundreds of magazine articles to deliver 50 of her most bold-flavored dishes.

Highlights include:

Grilled pork skewers in a tangy-sweet marinade of pomegranate molasses and dill, a dish from the Caucasus mountains of Central Asia

Shrimp suquet, a kind of Catalonian stir fry, with ground almonds and a savory hit of cognac.

Wolfert's recipes are like no other—each is a new discovery, yielding incredible flavors, often using unusual techniques and ingredients, often with an incredible backstory. Sometimes they're really hard. But this book focuses on her most accessible dishes. Some may also be good for your mind, in line with her new brain-centric diet, which emphasizes healthy meats and fresh vegetables. The recipes include something for everyone, whether paleo, vegan, omnivore, or gluten-free.